Bartolomeo Pagano

Bartolomeo Pagano (27 September 1878 - 24 June 1947) was an Italian motion picture actor.
Before his cinema career, Pagano was a stevedore who worked at the port of Genoa. There, he was discovered and selected to play the role of Maciste, a muscular slave, in the silent movie classic Cabiria in 1914. As the originator of this role, he went on to play the character for the next 14 years in a series of sequels. Pagano became an international star, and legally changed his name to Maciste. The actor retired from films in 1926 to marry and raise a family in his home town of Genoa. He died there, aged 68, and is buried on the family estate in Italy.

Selected filmography

• Cabiria (1914)
• Maciste the Policeman (1918)
• Maciste the Athlete (1918)
• Emperor Maciste (1924)
• Maciste against the Sheik (1926)
• Maciste in the Lion's Cage (1926)
• The Giant of the Dolomites (1927)
• The Courier of Moncenisio (1927)
• The Last Tsars (1928)
• Judith and Holofernes (1929)